đBest Book Sets to Gift for 2025
It is a truth that should be universally acknowledged that any book lover will adore some of the following book sets. Weâve curated our favorite book sets to give as giftsâfrom Austen to Dumas and Dickens to present day Hilderbrand and Tahir. And our favorite set of Tolkien.
đ Why Book Sets Make Exceptional Christmas Gifts
Book sets are hefty, immersive gifts. Like giving someone a series to binge, just in paper form. Plus all of these look great on bookshelves with visual appeal and matching spines.
Here are our are standout book-sets to gift friends and family this holiday seasonâcovering the classics, romance, adventure and thrilling reads.
1. Jane Austen: The Complete Works (7-Book Boxed Set)
Weâve seen this book set everywhere from the top shelf giftstore at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to photos of Kate Middleton at her writing desk - together or apart, these clothbound versions of Jane Austenâs major novels look great together or separate. Includes Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, plus Juvenilia & letters.
2. Alexandre Dumas Collection (5-Book Boxed Set)
Adventure, wit, heroism andâŚall the drama. This book set boasts The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Vicompte de Bragelonne, and The Man in the Iron Mask. If you or your gift receiver saw last yearâs swashbuckling French version of âThe Count of Monte Cristo,â youâre going to love the source material.
3. The Major Works of Charles Dickens (5-Book Boxed Set)
The only author who has almost as many adaptations of his work as Austen is the prolific Charles Dickens. Author of the timeless (and yet very Victorian and of itâs time) A Christmas Carol as well as Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Bleak House - theyâre all here.
So, why read Dickens? Jon Michael Varese wrote in The Guardian a few years back- âMy search for an answer continued but never with success, until one year the little flicker came â not surprisingly â from another high school student, whose essay I was reviewing for a writing contest. âWe need to read Dickens's novels,â she wrote, âbecause they tell us, in the grandest way possible, why we are what we are.â
There it was, like a perfectly formed pearl shucked from the dirty shell of my over-zealous efforts â an explanation so simple and beautiful that only a 15-year-old could have written it.â
4. The Paradise Trilogy by Elin Hilderbrand
Go a different direction for books that could be termed beach reads though thatâs not exactly fair to the multi-talented Elin Hilderbrand - an author so popular, thereâs an annual Hilderbrand weekend on Nantucket. Dive into someone elseâs troubled family dynamics for a while - from snowy Nantucket, Hilderbrand takes you to sunny St. John where one wife discovers her marriage is not what she thought it was. Much like recommending a good streaming binge, giving all three books is the most thoughtful way to gift this.
5. An Ember in the Ashes Complete Series by Sabaa Tahir (4-Book Boxed Set)
Sabaa Tahirâs fantasy series reaps the whirlwind that plays into its story - itâs immersive, visceral and canât-put-downable. (And if your potential giftee has already read it, consider giving them the next book which advances another generation in the storyline - The Heir.)
Tahir builds a world that you wonât want to leave - and following the stories of Laia, Elias and the Empire that binds and frightens them leads to the mother of all twists.
6. J. R. R. Tolkien âLord of the Ringsâ (5-Volume Book Set)
The G.O.A.T. of fantasy writing from Bilboâs first steps to Frodoâs final journey to Mordor - this collectorâs edition is a thoughtful gift for any avid reader who hasnât yet encountered Tolkien or the superfan who wants to return to the Shire. From Eowynâs battle cry âI am no manâ to Gandalfâs âYou shall not pass!â and wiser words to live by - "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us,â honestly youâre probably going to buy this for yourself. (Or at least we are.)
7. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (9-Volume Hardcover Set)
For the true romantic who canât get enough of Jamie and Claire - whether a fan of the tv series or someone with worn copies of the original Diana Gabaldon books, this beautiful box set shows youâd at least think about traveling through time for the right gift. Or at least really understand the appeal of a Scottish highlander husband like Jamie.
8. A Court of Thorns and Roses (4-Book Boxed Set)
Once people start this series (ACOTAR to those in the know), itâs fair to say they usually become obsessed. So gift this carefully - prepare to lose a friend or relative for at least a week to the propulsive narrative that hurtles you from meeting Tamlin (donât get too attached) to the real story with Rhysand (no spoilers) and wait âtil you see what happens with Nesta (thatâs in the spin-off fifth book A Court of Silver Flames). Huge on #booktok, one of the originalists of the current romantasy craze - and perhaps by next Christmas, we will finally have the sixth ACOTAR book (supposed to be coming out in early 2026âŚ)
